As the parents of a baby, Jack and I feel that we are under a lot of pressure to raise our daughter in a responsible manner. We have seen children in our own families reared by parents who are lazy, irresponsible, or otherwise unsuited to the job. Unwilling to see our daughter grow up to be an overindulged, entitled brat used to having everything handed to her and unwilling to challenge herself, we took lessons from these parents, and forced ourselves not to make the same mistakes they did.

As a result of this, one of the things we have tried to limit is our daughter’s television-watching time. We feel that if she is constantly placed in front of the TV, she will be unable to sit still and amuse herself without it. Rather than being able to entertain herself quietly on a long car ride, she will insist upon watching cartoons or other children’s programming. While having TVs and DVD players in one’s car is certainly very common today, it’s not something we want to expose our child to, at least not before she’s two years old. While we have no problem with it in theory, both Jack and I survived our childhoods just fine without needing to watch television during a car ride. Long drives would usually find us reading books in the back seats of our parents’ cars, and we would like our daughter to be the same way, as with any luck this will nurture in her a love of reading, which she is already beginning to demonstrate through a rudimentary interest in books.

Yes, we let her watch television sometimes. She likes the typical Nickelodeon or Disney Channel cartoons that a not-quite-toddler might watch. She dances when she hears their theme songs, and points to the screen and says the characters’ names. Sometimes when we are doing other things, she asks to watch television. Depending on a number of factors we might let her, or we might read her a story or play outside with her instead. Our aim is not to teach her that television is bad (we certainly have no aversion to watching it) but to give her a well-rounded upbringing that involves a variety of experiences. And it seems to be working. Not only is she interested in books, but she regularly asks us to read stories to her. She loves it when we take her on walks or to visit one of the parks in our town, and she is also content to play quietly with her toys.

The purpose of this entry is not self-promotion. We try not to judge other parents unless their failure is so obvious and massive that we can’t avoid it. As parents, neither Jack nor I feel that we have all the answers. But I’m a teacher, and I don’t work during summer. This year, while I was off for two and a half months, Jack and I got accustomed to sex on a daily basis. In fact, some days we had sex twice: Once when the baby took her afternoon nap, and again when she fell asleep for the night. We’ve had plenty of sex since the new school year began, but with the exception of weekends, it’s all been first thing in the morning, or at night just before bed. I like having sex right in the middle of the day. There’s something exciting about stopping what we’re doing, throwing off all of our clothes (or leaving some on), and giving into that persistent need for immediate sexual release.

Jack spent much of the day yesterday sending me very erotic text messages and e-mails. This was incredibly hot but also very frustrating as I was unable to respond. Because of this, I spent my day pretty worked up. As I prepared to leave for the day, I sent Jack a text message to see whether the baby was napping. I was nervous as I waited for his reply, because I work about forty minutes from home, and given her normal sleep schedule she is usually awake by the time I leave, or at the very latest by the time I get home. To my relief, he said she was, and I crossed my fingers that she would remain asleep until an hour after I arrived. Actually, I probably could have gotten off in five minutes. I was that turned on.

When I exited the freeway near our house, I found myself at a stoplight where I sent Jack another text. He said that she was still asleep, and I exhaled. At this point she’d been asleep for almost three hours. She almost never sleeps so long, and while my optimistic side hoped that she was simply catching up on sleep after a somewhat restless night, my pessimistic side said to be prepared to hear the sounds of a playful, happy and very much awake baby when I walked in the door. As I drove the last couple blocks to our house, I prepared myself for this inevitability, and looked on the bright side: While I’d been distracted for much of the day by thoughts of Jack’s cock, I missed my daughter as well, and I was glad to have the opportunity to spend time with her.

When I walked through the front door I was met with silence. No crying – or laughing – baby. No music. No sounds of activity. No television playing a movie Jack had decided to watch while the baby slept. I couldn’t believe our luck! She’d slept for more than three hours at this point. I set down my purse and my keys on the couch, and excitedly headed down the hall to join my husband, who I could see sitting on our bed, waiting for me. He was naked. As I neared our bedroom I stripped down to nothing as well. I imagined what he’d do to me, what we’d do to each other, and I found my wetness hard to contain. I needed an orgasm, and I needed it soon. It wouldn’t take me long. Then the baby woke up just as I passed her bedroom.

Fuck it, I thought as I detoured to her crib and lifted her into my arms. She was glad to see me, and I held her, kissed her, and talked to her for a few minutes. Then I carried her into the TV room, sat her down, and turned on the television. One of the cartoons she likes was on. I left lots of books and toys within reach in case she got bored with the show. I don’t think we were being irresponsible. We weren’t parking her in front of the television so that we could get drunk or engage in dangerous behavior. We just wanted sex. Especially me. I stayed with her in the TV room to make sure she was fine being on her own, and then I joined Jack in the bedroom and shut the door.

-Jill